1: Ask your doctor or clinic to complete the Drakenstein Palliative Hospice referral form which can be downloaded from this website or phone or email the office to send you a form. admin@drakensteinhospice.org.za / 021 8724060 2: Collect a Referral Form from the office at 109 Breda Street, Paarl 3: Send us your referral via email, fax, or hand delivery to 109 Breda Street, Paarl. This can be done either by yourself, a family member, or your health practitioner. 3: Drakenstein Palliative Hospice will contact you within 24 hours to arrange a home visit to assess your needs and work with you on a way forward.

Palliative care focuses on managing the symptoms associated with an illness that has the potential to limit your quality of life and life expectancy. Palliative care focuses on the whole person; in his/her environment; within his/her social circumstances; considering personal religious, cultural, or spiritual preferences; supporting the emotional impact; addresses understanding of the illness while; professionally managing the symptoms such as pain, nausea, and vomiting, constipation, agitation, body changes, etc.

We work primarily in the Drakenstein Sub-District, as part of the Cape Winelands. We look after over 220 free patients in the district per month. On request we will assist patients in neighbouring towns where their is no palliative care or homebased care service.

We provide a free service to all who require palliative care whether or not they are able to pay. For all additional services such as private palliative care, adherence support, or advance care plan services please see the next section on our paid services. Our free service provides access to the specialised skills of our interdisciplinary team. The focus is on the professional management of symptoms associated with a severe life-threatening and life-limiting illness. Together we develop an individual care plan and allocate staff and resources to achieve the plan. The plan is revised together with the patient and their family, adapted as needs and circumstances change. Home-based caregivers may be allocated to assist with some hygiene needs. We work together with the family, providing specialised expertise and support to maximise the quality of life and dignity in death. Our motto is: Helping people help people Please contact us to find out more about our Free Service.

Our specialty is quality home-based care. The paid service offers supervised expertise for patients and families who may need more than the free service. The DPH interdisciplinary team admits the patient, develops a care plan, and provides ongoing care and supervision as per the care plan. Caregivers will be allocated and introduced to the patient and family members. Our team will supervise and support the caregivers to provide the best quality home care. The service may be terminated at anytime with 24 hours' notice. The conditions for our paid service can be negotiated as patients and family need change.

Diagnosis: Patients with Cancer, who are HIV positive (Aids), have drug-resistant or complicated TB, terminal diabetes, terminal CVA, congestive cardiac failure, motor neuron disease (MND), severe dementia, etc., who require holistic palliative care: physical (active symptom management), emotional, social, cultural, health literacy and spiritual care. Physical Needs: Patients who spend more than 50% of their time in bed (non-ambulant patients). Patients in need of nursing care; wound care, pain control, a bed bath, PEG feeding, tracheostomy or stoma care and support, pressure care, who may need their blood pressure or diabetes monitoring or TB and medication management or medication and dressing supplies for patients not able to get to their nearest clinic.